Liverpool transfer news: Marc Guehi hopes given massive boost as striker demand made

Liverpool have seen their hopes of landing Alexander Isak hit after Newcastle refused to entertain his sale but they could yet land Crystal Palace skipper Marc Guehi

Liverpool’s new look side made their first competitive outing on Sunday but came up short in the Community Shield as they were beaten by Crystal Palace at Wembley.

The Reds have invested heavily in an effort to remain at the summit of English football but Arne Slot has accepted that their line-up still needs fine tuning. The Dutchman said in the aftermath of their loss: “We have four new players – we need time to adapt.”

Alexander Isak was heavily linked with a move to Anfield after making it clear to Newcastle that he wanted out. An opening bid of £110million was rejected and the Magpies have since told their Swedish striker that he will be remaining at St James’ Park.

It leaves the Reds with a decision to make regarding their next move, but the recent sales of Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz mean that the squad is light in the final third. Here’s the latest coming out of Anfield.

Eagles prepared to sell Guehi

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish admitted the club could be forced into selling captain Marc Guehi this summer. His contract expires at the end of this campaign and Liverpool are thought the frontrunners if the England centre-half does move on.

READ MORE: Diogo Jota’s heartbreaking message in Liverpool interview filmed shortly before deathREAD MORE: Alexander Isak slammed for ‘poor’ transfer behaviour as Newcastle reminded of hard truth

The Eagles boss was asked if he would seriously consider bids for his captain and confessed: “Yes. I mean, we’d have to, of course. For players of that calibre to leave on a free, it’s a problem. No doubt about it, unfortunately.

“We had one bid (last summer), but Joachim (Andersen) went (to Fulham ) and we couldn’t afford to lose both of them. We then had another bid in January, but that was a difficult situation as well, and the player had a point of view on that one. So we just have to see what happens, but it needs a new contract or a conclusion of some kind.”

Van Dijk backs striker signings

Virgil van Dijk admits “there’s always room for an attacker” in what appeared to be a call to the Liverpool hierarchy to bring in more firepower. The Reds have seen their hopes of landing Isak massively dented by Newcastle’s refusal to sell.

Slot has landed Hugo Ekitike to lead the line and he bagged a debut goal at Wembley whilst Florian Wirtz also brings more creativity. But the departure of some of the club’s big name attackers does leave holes and the skipper would happily see them filled.

Van Dijk told TalkSPORT after the Community Shield loss on Sunday: “Well we just lost Darwin, he went to Saudi and we lost Lucho, obviously he went to Bayern. I think there’s always room for an attacker in order to strengthen us so let’s see what the window brings in terms of the balance of the team.”

Tsimikas poised for exit

Kostas Tsimikas is edging closer to leaving Liverpool after being left out of their squad for their Community Shield loss. The Echo reports that Nottingham Forest and Leeds United are thouht to be interested in signing the Greek star before the transfer window closes on September 1.

The Reds bought Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth this summer and also have Andy Robertson as backup in that position, which means Tsimikas is set to fall further down the pecking order. His potential sale would help the club offset their spending.

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